CHASE
40

Blood. More blood. Gun shots. Darkness.

'Need another drink of water?' I jumped at the voice of the man sat before me. I had been so lost in my own head that I was afraid, I'd never replace my way out. Returning my attention to the cop that was now looking concerned, I shook my head. I didn't need a drink, I needed Chase.

'Are you sure Miss Corleone?' He ran his fingers through his facial hair all the while his eyes analysed every inch of my behaviour, his gaze never leaving mine.

'Bella. Please call me Bella.' I thought about my name for a long while, it wasn't even my name. But I accepted that. I didn't want to be known as Sofia. Being Sofia was the reason all of this was happening right now and I didn't want to be the girl that turned her back on Chase.

Chase.

His face came into my view again and I could feel myself breaking down once more but I held back, if I let myself break down again I didn't know if I could put myself back together anymore.

'Bella. You said that Ashworth was there with you and Luke that night, is that correct?'

I sucked in an ocean full of air and nodded my head. My heart crashing at the memory of that night.

'Do you know where Ashworth flee to when we arrived at the scene?' His question was making my head hurt. What did he mean, where did he flee to? It was Luke that ran. Chase.. Chase was right there.. He had saved my life. Again.

'I don't understand.' My lips were quavering with every painful second that went by, I couldn't make sense of his constant interrogation. Why was he asking me about Chase's whereabouts?

'What don't you understand Miss Co.. Bella.' He corrected himself then undid the top button of his shirt. It seemed as though he was getting restless with my constant breaks. Honestly, I just wanted to get out of there, wash Chase's blood off me and lay in bed until everything stopped hurting so much.

'I don't understand why you're asking about Chase.. didn't you replace him in there with me?' I felt dizzy again. He was in there, I knew he was. I saw him with my own eyes. He was laying in my arms. I know he was.

'Bella, calm down. Please go through everything that happened before we got to you.' He looked more than serious now as he eyed me down, waiting for me to pour my guts out to him. I couldn't bring it to words, I didn't want to accept it.

I thought back to the minutes before everything stopped. With my heart completely shattered and my words broken, I whispered.

'I watched him die in my arms.' As the words left my mouth, I broke down into a sobbing mess. Remembering every little detail that had happened. I wanted to cry until I had no tears left for me to shed, I wanted to breathe until I couldn't breathe anymore.

'I'll die for you Sofia.'

His voice echoed in my head, he had told me he'd die for me when he had a gun to my head while I was still trapped in his house with him but I never thought he would really do it. He had took a bullet for me, he had actually died for me.

I closed my eyes and saw his face again, it's like he was haunting me. He was there every time I closed my eyes, he was there to remind me of how much I had misunderstood him. He might've been a monster but he was a monster that gave his life, in return for mine.

I closed my eyes and relived the painful memory that haunted me..

'Sofia run!' Chase called for me to get to safety, to run out there and be saved by the cops but I couldn't get my legs to move, I was frozen in my place as my eyes watched Luke grab the gun he had dropped and aimed it straight at me.

'I won't let you run away.' Luke's finger slipped over the trigger, all the while Chase launched towards me. The loud gunshot echoed into my head as I lay there on the floor with my heart still beating but when I looked at Chase's face,

The beating of my heart,

Stopped.

His tan skin had paled out and he barely kept his eyes open. Luke had disappeared and I was left with Chase's large body draped over mine. I forced myself up from beneath him, holding his face in my hands as his eyes fluttered open and shut.

'No, no, stay with me! Stay with me!' My tears were unstoppable as I watched the man who had just saved my life, lose his, right in front of me. Blood pooled over his abdomen, the place where he was shot. I pressed my hands onto his bleeding wound and pressed down in hopes of stopping the blood flow but my attempts were futile as my hands soaked into the crimson mess. 'No, no, it's ok, I'm going to make it ok.' I couldn't breathe anymore, I couldn't even think as I sat there with his limp body in my arms.

I chanted the words 'stay with me' so many times, I didn't know what else to say, or what else to do as I was stuck frozen under the pressure of losing him. When his eyes closed shut and stayed shut, my heart vanished, my mind went blank and I lost myself. 'Chase don't do this to me' I held his face in my bloody hands, holding him tight against me, not wanting to let go, not wanting to believe this was happening.

'You can't leave me!' I cried out, my heart in a million pieces as I watched his blood drip down the side of his mouth. 'Chase..' I whispered against his lips, planting a small kiss on his cold mouth. He wasn't meant to go, it was meant to be me! I was the one who was suppose to take the bullet, why Chase why?

Not being able to take in my reality any longer, I gave into the darkness.

Sitting there,

Immobile,

And gone.